stainless steel vs cast iron BBQ grate/hotplate

Looking to replace my current BBQ grate with a half-half grate and hotplate, so I'm looking at various custom makers around the world.

A lot are stainless steel and have some negative things to say about cast iron (e.g. "One of the major problems with Cast Iron is that it is produced from recycled metal which causes the Cast Iron to be porous. The chemicals used in cleaning, combined with any rust present, seep into the sponge like metal and these potentially harmful properties can be released into the food, which we in turn digest").

Happy to get stainless steel, especially for the rust-resistant properties since I live next to the water, but am looking for opinions on stainless steel. Never (consciously) used a stainless steel BBQ, only either cast iron, or whatever the cheap shit that came with my BBQ is (looks like thin steel painted/coated with something).

experiences/thoughts?

 

Grill grates - you can get them here https://thebbqguy.com.au/grillgrate/

 

My old man was a boilermaker, and in his travels with work he ended up getting himself a large sheet of stainless that he used for his bbq plate. No issues with it as far as I knew, it took a little longer to heat up because of how thick it was. And it didn’t have any non stick traits like the cast iron does.


In terms of price vs benefits I’d be going cast iron.


Can’t really speak much about the chemical side of things, but if you’re charring food on a bbq you’ve got those carcinogens to worry about as well. I really don’t buy into half of that, everything kills us in some way or another.

Cast iron flat side, keep it seasoned. Grill grates for the other.

 

I'm quite unusual in that I actually clean my cast iron BBQ hotplate before using it, but even then I've never used "chemicals" to clean it, just crank the heat up, close the lid, open the lid a short time later, throw a cup of water on it, scrape the flakey bits off and then it's ready to go.

I'm not surprised an ad trying to sell cast iron hotplates has bad things to say about cast iron.

 

Cast iron plate or nothing...

something like this would work

Make a small BBQ out of bricks, light a fire underneath and away you go


https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/myaree/garden/wundowie-cast-iron-bbq-plates/1007957800


https://www.fix.com/blog/comparison-of-cookware-materials/